


Day 21: Diamond

by ANE925



Series: 30 Days Tumblr Prompt Challenge [21]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-23
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-03-02 07:53:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2805137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ANE925/pseuds/ANE925
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek has never liked crowds and the Christmas season pretty much guarantees there will be crowds. However, if he wants to make sure his ring shopping stays a secret from Stiles, sacrifices must be made.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

Derek hated going shopping during the holidays. The traffic alone was hell. Then there were the crowds, the yelling parents, the screaming toddlers, the overpowering smell of everything, and that awful music demanding “holiday cheer” to top it all off. And yet here he was shopping in the mall during the holidays.

He really didn't have a choice if he wanted to keep this mission a secret. Any other day, someone would have already recognized Derek and run back to tell Stiles. Derek still wasn't entirely convinced that Stiles didn't have a watch alert system. How else did he always know when Derek took the Sheriff out to eat crap food? So, Derek had to be sneaky if he wanted this to remain a surprise and the holiday crowd was perfect for that. No one even batted an eyelash as Derek walked into the jewelry store.  

"Hello! How can I help you today, sir?" A pleasant young sales women asked, making Derek jump. He always forgot about the sales people and this one seemed to have appeared out of thin air right next to him. Getting his racing heart under control, Derek turned to the sales women and flashed her a smile.

"I fine for right now, just looking," he informed her.

"Ok, let me know if you need anything!" The women cheerfully said with a smile before she disappeared again, hopefully to go help someone else.

Derek quietly looked around, trying his best not to get in anyone's way. He had managed to keep this whole thing a secret until now, he didn't want it blown just because he got in the way of some new couple and they ended up complaining about him in from of one of Stiles’ spies.  Derek was actually quite proud of the fact that only one person knew his plans. That person was the Sheriff and only because Derek was, deep down, a traditionalist and had gone to ask him about marrying Stiles.

The Sheriff had replied with a raised eyebrow and said "Derek, you two have been living together for five years now. I was beginning to worry you two had eloped without telling anyone." Then he had grinned and pulled Derek in for a hug whispering, "Welcome to the family son."

However, if anyone else, and he meant anyone else, had found out Stiles would have known within an hour. No one in his family could resist Stiles' pleading, especially his mother and Laura. So really, it was imperative that Derek kept out of the way of the other customers and made sure that no one found out what he was doing.

At least that was his reasoning for keeping to the back of the store. Anyway, all the ones up front were  too plain, too fancy, or too gaudy. Derek wanted something unique yet classy.

Almost an hour later, Derek still hadn't found anything. Nothing quite fit. He hadn't seen the whole store, but maybe this just wasn't the store for him. As if sensing his intention to leave, or maybe she had just recognized the lost look on his face, the sales women magically appeared by his side again.

"Still doing alright?" She ask, without any mockery. With a sigh of defeat, Derek gave up doing this alone.

"Actually, no," Derek told her honestly.

"That's no problem. It's hard sometimes to see everything with the holiday crowd. What are you looking for? Maybe I can get you in the right area," She said with a pleasant smile.

"I'm looking for an engagement ring for my boyfriend of five years," Derek informed her. He watched as her smile twisted into something else for a brief moment before she could school her expression again. Derek felt a feeling of dread creep up as she opened her mouth to talk again.

"Of course. However, we have a very large range of engagement rings in this store. Do you think you could be narrow it down a bit?  Are you looking for a thick band or a slim one? Do you want the ring to be ornate or more simple?" She asked him and Derek had never felt more embarrassed in his life. She hadn't been making faces at the fact that he had a boyfriend. She had been trying not to laugh because he asked for help finding an engagement ring in a store that was 90% engagement rings with no more information than that. Some of his embarrassment must have shown in his face because she was talking again.

"It is completely ok if you really have no idea. I have a catalog that we can go through behind the counter. That will be easier than trying to fight the crowd to see them all," She reassured him gently.

"No, I'm sorry, I was just, I mean uh..." Derek stopped talking, took a deep breath, and tried again, "I was looking for something ornate but also traditional, so, like, simple ornate. Something unique, but not..." and he was going to say trashy, before realizing that insulting some of their items probably wasn't the way to go to get help. This was why Derek didn't talk in public often. It had nothing to do with him being an antisocial grump and everything to do with the fact that he couldn't open his mouth without embarrassing himself.

"...Over the top huge?" she filled in for him with a kind smile. Derek just nodded.

"We usually keep our more unique rings over here. Was there anything specific you were looking for?" She asked as she lead him to a part of the store Derek sweared she had just conjured out of thin air.

Before he could answer her though, a ring caught the light just right and Derek was instantly drawn to it.

"This one," Derek breathed, gaze never leaving the ring. The women didn't answer right away, it seemed he shocked her and he was a little smug about that actually since nothing seemed to bother her. When she recovered, she walked around the case to pull the ring and its partner out.

"This one, the blue one, right?" she asked as she handed it to him. It was so much more than a simple blue, but he nodded anyway.

"Can I get it engraved?" Derek ask, words spilling out of his mouth faster than his brain could compute them. He hadn't planned on getting it engraved, but now that he said it, it felt right.

"Of course! It will cost a pretty penny, but we can have it done right here in the shop. That way you and your boyfriend can come pick them up together," she informed him.

"I want them both engraved but, uh, the proposal is kind of a surprise, so it will just be me," Derek replied.

"Oh, that is so romantic!" the sales women practically squealed, it was the first time she had broken her professionalism. "So many couples nowadays have stopped doing that. They both come in together to make sure they get the ring they want. But, call me old fashion, I always love a good surprise proposal." She told him with a childish grin on her face. Derek couldn't help but smile back at her.

"Alright, let's get you all checked out and get you a form for the engraving," she said as she packed up the rings and started walking away. Derek followed her, smile still on his face because he did it, he had the ring now.


	2. Chapter 2

“Stiles, Stiles! Wait up man,” Scott called as he rushed to keep sight of his friend in the packed mall.

“No time! We have to be quick! We have to be stealthy!” Stiles yelled back as he kept weaving and dashing through the crowd. 

“No time? No time for what?! You said you finished your shopping already!” Scott demanded as he caught up. 

“I did, but this, this isn’t Christmas or Birthday shopping. This is such much bigger,” Stiles said, possibly a little manic as he started pushing people out of his way while pulling Scott along. 

“Stiles, Jesus, Sorry Ma’am, Stiles slow down!” Scott pleaded as Stiles kept tugging him along. 

“Can’t slow down. we don’t have time!” Stiles replied. 

“Yeah, you said that already. Why do we have no time Stiles? What….” Scott trailed off as Stiles finally came to a stop right in front of a very high end jewelry store. 

“We have no time because we are trying to do this without anyone finding out. Which means we have to do this before Derek comes back from communing with nature or…”

“Communing with nature? Really Stiles?” Scott interrupted with a judgmental eyebrow.  

“Ok, so I might have zoned out after he said he would be gone for most of the day, but that is completely besides the point! We also have to do this before anyone else finds out! You know if any of the girls even get a hint they will pester until they find out and then they will be so smug and knowing and teasing that Derek will catch on and from there it’s only a matter of time till he figures it all out and then my surprise will be ruined!” Stiles rambled. 

“Dude, you're planning on proposing! ” Scott exclaimed before pulling Stiles into a hug.

“No, I’m planning on growing a garden,” Stiles sarcastically shoot back before grinning widely. 

“Stuff it. You weren’t exactly making a lot of sense when we left. Wait, am I the only one that knows? Didn’t you ask Mrs. Hale for Derek’s hand or something?” Scott asked as the walked into the store and started browsing. Stiles just snorted. 

“This wasn’t that planned out Scotty,” Stiles said and Scott got the distinct feeling that he rolled his eyes, even though he never looked away from the cases.   

“Are you saying that you, Stiles Stilinski, the man with a plan for dressing, are getting an engagement ring on a spur of the moment idea?” Scott teased. 

“Not ‘spur’ spur of the moment. I’ve been think about it, I even already know how I want to do it! So, you know how Derek can’t help but read the first page of any new book he gets his hands on? Well, I got him that new book by that author he loves, but! I’m going to put my own first page in on top of the real one. It will read like Derek is the character, spoiler alert: that’s because he is. It will then vaguely detail his day and the last sentence will be ‘and then he looked up from his book to see his boyfriend of 5 years, hope and devotion shining in his eyes, down on one knee,’ and then he’ll look and BAM! I ask for his eternal love and devotion, he says yes, everyone cheers, there might be a few tears, and then I can finally put a ring on that man! So, yeah, not totally spur of the moment I just...wasn’t sure when exactly I was going to do it,” Stiles explained, still swiftly picking his way through the rings. 

“Dude,” Scott softly said. 

“Shut up man and help me find the perfect ring,” Stiles huffed, but Scott saw that light blush. 

“Oh My God,” Stiles said and it was only thanks to years of practice that Scott caught him before he vaulted the jewelry cases. 

“Stiles!” Scott hissed as he tried to make sure his best friend didn’t make a complete ass out of himself. 

“Those, Scott, THOSE are our rings. I need that pair,” Stiles stated, eyes not leaving the little shelf an employee had just dropped off a pair of rings onto. 

“Ma’am, excuse me Ma’am,” Stiles called after the employee. 

“Yes sir?” The employee replied. 

“How much for that pair? Wait nevermind, I don’t care. Can you box those two up for me?” Stiles asked, eyes never leaving the blue gemstones. 

“I’m very sorry, sir, but that pair has already been bought,” the employee apologetically explained. 

“What? Well do you have another set they might…” Stiles started to say, though Scott could already see the slump in his friend's  shoulders. 

“I’m really sorry, but, well, no. That artist who makes this line hand crafts each ring and purposely makes each one different. The idea behind the line is a ring as unique and singular as each couple’s love. I’m , I’m really sorry. We do have…” The employee started to say.

“No. Thank you, but no. I, we’re good. I’ll just look around for a bit,” Stiles said, flashing the employee a small insincere smile. 

“Oh, ok, well, if you change your mind, let me know,” The employee said before moving on to go back to whatever she was doing before Stiles grabbed her. 

“It’s fine Stiles, we’ll find another even awesomer pair for you two,” Scott said as he clapped a hand on Stiles’ shoulder.

“Not in that blue. Not with gemstones that perfectly match his eyes,” Stiles said with a defeated sigh.

“It’s cool. You were right anyway. This was very spur of the moment for me. It’s just the universe telling me that this is not the year to pop the questions. It’s alright, let’s just get home,” Stiles continued as he slowly walked out of the store and towards the entrance.    

“Hey you can’t drag me all the way out here and not feed me. Not cool, man. You can make it up to me by first showing me where the best ice cream joint is and then helping me pick out some gifts. Because, unlike some people, the rest of us mere mortals still aren’t done shopping,” Scott lightly teased as he bumped Stiles shoulder. 

“Scott, I’m not really in the mood…”

“My treat,” Scott cut him off, giving his slumped freind a wide smile. 

“Well, when you put it that way, there is this joint…” Stiles drawled with a grin before leading Scott even deeper into the madness that was holiday shopping.  


	3. Chapter 3

Tonight was the night. Tonight was the night that Derek was going to ask Stiles to spend forever with him. 

Of course, he had been saying that every day since he had gotten the rings. Which was before Christmas... His birthday and Christmas had come and gone and Derek still had the rings. 

Not really for lack of trying. Because Derek had actually made plans. Several plans, with back-ups and everything.

It was just, Stiles was oblivious to things he wasn’t obsessing over on a good day and recently he had been off. A little more quiet and down than usual. Stiles had assured him it was nothing serious, but because of it, none of Derek’s many well thought out plans really felt right and so..

He still had the rings. 

But, if he wanted to live up to his promise of asking for Stiles’ hand before the new year, he had to do it tonight, before midnight, with the entire pack there. No big deal.

Derek groaned, he was so screwed. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The party was in full swing which, of course, meant that the games were out and everyone's competitive streaks were showing fiercely.

They were at the moment down to the last few rounds of their own version of charades. It started out as the basic rules: no talking, only acting or drawing. 

But over the years the had started adding in their own rules. Like, you can’t use the same action or repeat someone's action to describe the same word. no using any “special abilities” to give or guess clues. Special abilities included, but were not limited to: magic, werecreature enhancements, or pure eyebrows. Most interesting, at the very beginning of the game, everyone writes a few things down and puts them in a bowl and during the last few rounds the teams have to pull from the bowl and act out whatever someone wrote. It was definitely amusing to watch and as the years had passed, the suggestions had gotten very creative. 

Stiles had near busted a gut from laughter when Cora failed to guess Scott’s enactment of a freshly turned werewolf a few years back. 

It was during Boyd and Erica’s turn that Derek got an idea. Boyd had been unlucky enough to pull a written card that read ‘will you top tonight?’, which honestly was probably one of Erica’s cards so Derek didn’t feel to bad for him. 

But it got Derek thinking and, when it was his and Stiles’ next turn, he took the card and ignored what was written, ‘alien abduction’ so 50/50 on it being Stiles or Derek’s younger brother Jake’s card, took a deep breath, and went for it. 

“Ok, four words, first one,” Stiles stated when Derek held up first four fingers then one. 

“Scroll, deed, letter, tome,” Stiles started guessing in rapid succession as Derek drew a written will on the board. Next to it, he drew a little x-eyed skull. 

“Will! First word will,” Stiles cheered as Derek nodded. And since he really wasn’t going for points he wrote out ‘a,e,i,o’

“U! Will you! What’s with the questions tonight, guys?” Stiles asked as he geared for the next hint. 

Derek took a deep breath and steeled himself before drawing a church. 

“Building, church, take me to church, chapel, Will you..” Stiles continued guessing, even as Derek rapidly shook his head and drew a ring next. 

“Church ring, bells... Will you ring my bell?” Stiles asked, eyebrows wagging suggestively, before laughing. 

“Ring in church, marriage, will you marriage... Will you marry!” Stiles exclaimed when Derek nodded.

The room had gone very quiet, not that Stiles noticed.

Giving up any pretense of caring, Derek wrote ‘doe, ray’

“Me! Will you marry me! Ha eat that time, Ly…. Wait, what?!” Stiles suddenly froze in his celebration. 

Slowly, he turned to look at Derek, Derek who was down on one knee with a box in his hand. 

Derek took a deep breath.

“Stiles, you…” Derek started before being cut off.

“My turn,” Stiles said as he walked closer.

“Your turn?” Derek asked raising an eyebrow in question, but not getting up yet.

“Yep, one word,” Stiles continued as he reached Derek.

“One wo….” Derek didn’t get to finish as Stiles leaned down and kissed him like the world was ending. Derek felt every bit of love, excitement, happiness, and not to mention a bit of tongue,  Stiles felt for him and he gave every bit of himself back. 

Noise, time, and the world itself stopped. All there was was this kiss and every joyful, frustrating, devoting, promise it held.       

Finally, the wolf whistles, jeering, and pleading to stop made their way through, forcing them to break apart.

“One word, Yes,” Derek said with a smug smile.

“Yes, of course it’s a yes!” Stiles cried, throwing his arms around Derek's neck and letting himself be spun around because why not. 

“Let’s see the stone!” Laura yelled to the agreement of the room.

Derek opened the box and almost dropped the rings at the shout Stiles let out.

“You ass! I was going to buy those for us! OH MY GOD! You’re the one who got the engraving let me see, let me see!” Stiles demanded, taking the rings out of a bewildered Derek’s hand.

“Wait, you...for me? What?” Derek asked to the amusement of everyone.

“Shhhhh... I’ll tell you later first let me…” Stiles trailed off as he finally caught a view of the start of the engraving. 

There, neatly wrapping around each ring was a long string of polish reading ‘Love sparked and forever bound under the moon’.

Before Derek could get his bearings, he, once again, had an armful of an emotional Stiles. Only this time, there were tears and they were on the ground. 

“Ow, Stiles,” Derek started to say, laughter and amusement clear in his voice.

“I love you so much you big, stupid, sentimental asshole,” Stiles whispered, holding him tight.

“I know,” Derek whispered back before pulling a laughing and sputtering Stiles in for another kiss.

Somewhere in the background, the ball dropped, the bell chimed midnight, and Derek started the new year with the love of his life, officially his fiance.

**Author's Note:**

> No I did not write a fluff piece about Derek going ring shopping in secret. Ok maybe I did...sssshhhhhhhhhh.  
> Huzzah! Y’all thought I had forgotten about my 30 day challenge! But I didn’t see?! Thanks to my beta for making this readable!
> 
> Also, you can find the ring here! http://www.ahernbrucker.com/upload/wolfwedsets.htm


End file.
